NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 59 



tive secretary appointed by the President, by and with the advice 

 and consent of the Senate. 



H.R. 6457 is aimed at insuring that the United States has a strong 

 oceanographic program. We fully concur with this objective. As 

 you know, the national program in this area is being coordinated 

 through the Interagency Committee on Oceanography of the Federal 

 Council for Science and Technology. We believe that this organiza- 

 tional arrangement is proving satisfactory for carrying on the Nation's 

 oceanographic effort, and that such problems as have arisen do not 

 warrant establishment of the Council envisaged by H.R. 6457. 



The Bureau of the Budget has advised us it has no objection to 

 the submission of this report from the standpoint of the administra- 

 tion's program. 



Sincerelj'' yours, 



Leland J. Ha WORTH, Director. 



Executive Office of the President, 



Office of Science and Technology, 



Washington, B.C., May 8, 1965. 

 Hon. Herbert C. Bonner, 



Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries ^ 

 House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 



Dear jMr. Chairman: Thank you for the opportunity to com- 

 ment on H.R. 6457, a bill to provide for a comprehensive, long-range, 

 and coordinated national progTam in oceanography and for other 

 pm'poses. 



We are in full accord with the objective of the bill, and concur with 

 the proposal that the Great Lakes should be a part of a full oceano- 

 graphic effect. 



With respect to the functions to be performed by the proposed 

 Council, the President has had available to him since 1959, through 

 the Federal Council for Science and Technology, a means of coordinat- 

 ing and planning Federal activities relating to oceanography. The 

 Interagency Committee on Oceanography, a group established under 

 the Federal Council, is this instrumentality. The ICO is a working 

 gToup composed of senior officials with both technical and policy 

 responsibihties. The members of the group can work directly on 

 matters involving oceanogTaphy with the members of the Federal 

 Council for Science and Technology. The Council is composed of 

 the top officials responsible for research and development pohcy in 

 each of the major departments and agencies. Through the Special 

 Assistant for Science and Technology, who is the Chairman of the 

 Federal Council, important policy questions relating to oceanography 

 are considered by the Executive Office of the President and by the 

 President himself. Scientific questions arising from oceanography 

 and related fields are considered by the President's Science Advisory 

 Committee. These links between oceanography and the points of 

 decision in the executive branch give considerable strength and 

 flexibility to the existing system. 



The ICO has to its credit a number of significant accomplishments. 

 ICO has: (1) surveyed all significant oceanogi'aphic and marine 

 science activities, including the programs of all Federal departments 



